Fabrice Muamba insists he’s still an ordinary guy who can shop for orange juice at Tesco in Wilmslow.

Fabrice Muamba insists he’s still an ordinary guy who can shop for orange juice at Tesco in Wilmslow.

But what happened to him at White Hart Lane on March 17 this year means he’s anything but ordinary.

Miracle man, possibly? But certainly not ordinary.

The cardiac arrest that stopped his life for 78 minutes also changed his life forever. It robbed him of a football career that hadn’t even reached its peak.

But, whether he agrees or not, the Congolese-born, former Bolton midfielder has become a famous face, on first-name terms with everyone in football from FIFA president Sepp Blatter to Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo.

His profile is such that he was even asked to take part in the latest edition of TV’s I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here. But instead of doing bush tucker trials with ex-Coronation Street soap star Helen Flanagan, the 24-year-old, newly-married dad of one is at Bolton’s Reebok Stadium to launch his autobiography, I’m Still Standing.

“I am not a celebrity, that’s the problem,” he grinned.

“I was asked to go in the jungle but it wasn’t for me. I told my people ‘I will do something different’ but not that.

“Besides I have only just learned to swim so I would have been no good parachuting into the jungle.

“I found it amusing to be asked but it wasn’t for me.”

His strong belief in God – Fabrice is a regular at the Audacious Church in Manchester – led to suggestions he may become a Pastor. He’s considered helping underprivileged children in his native Congo but won’t be taking up a coaching career.

“I really haven’t decided exactly what route I want to take with my life,” he insisted. “I am just enjoying it at the moment.

“But when I was recovering in hospital I was very frustrated at what had happened. No-one could seem to tell me. I was very moody. There were times when I kicked people out of my room.

“I had gone from being a very fit man to someone who couldn’t walk.”

It was his then partner now wife Shauna who brought him to his senses. She told Fabrice of Italian footballer Piermario Morosini and Norwegian swimmer Alexander Dale Oen, who both died after suffering cardiac arrests.

“She said ‘that was you but somehow you pulled through.’ I realised then I had to calm myself down and just be grateful to be alive.”

However, he still struggled to come to terms with the news he would never play football again.

So much so that despite the heroics of the medics at the London Chest Hospital and the advice of Professor Richard Schilling, he sought a second opinion from Dr Pedro Brugada in Belgium. The answer was the same – “playing football again will kill you.”

Finally, Fabrice knew his boots were being hung up for good. “I shook his hand and said ‘thank you for your consultation and I will move on with my life.’

“I didn’t want to cry about finishing my career because the support I have had has been amazing. So to cry about it was going to cause more trouble. Writing this book has given me closure on this year.”

Playing competitive football is no longer an option but Fabrice still has an active life.

“I can swim, which I couldn’t do before, run and do gym work but not hefty work. My energy levels are good and are getting better every day.

“I just want to enjoy life, exploring things I couldn’t do because I was a footballer.”

Fabrice has no recollection of what happened to him on that near fateful day last spring apart from dizziness and a severe headache moments before his collapse.

Watching a video back of the drama was painful but he can still joke about his brush with death. Asked again about the possibility of going into coaching or management, he grinned: “I don’t need another heart attack.

“A lot of the world’s top managers had to retire early, and build a career as a coach.

“But for me it’s best I look after my heart. What happened to me has made me more relaxed.

“I am more easy going and less stressed. And besides I’ve done enough dying to last a lifetime.”

I’m Still Standing is published by Trinity Mirror Sports Media, priced £12.99.

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